The workplace can be a pretty dangerous place to be in; particularly if you work in a factory or on a constructions site. The dangers we could potentially face in the workplace are minimised or cleared by the numerous amounts of Health and Safety rules and regulations that all employers and employees are legally required to adhere to. In theory, if all employers and all employees stick to these rules, the amount of compensation claims being made would be very small.
When your employer fails in the important duty of care they have for your health and safety, and you are injured as a result, you are entitled to make a claim from the insurance your employer has a legal responsibly to have in place.
So – what can they fail you on, and when can you make a claim?
Workplace Safety
Your workplace should be safe to navigate, and safe to work in. All floors must be even and free of defects / hazards that could cause you to slip, trip, or fall. All fixtures and fittings must be free of any defect that could cause a hazard. It’s difficult to put in to words, so think of it this way – if you are injured in your workplace through no fault of your own, it’s likely you have a claim.
Use of Work Equipment
All work equipment you are provided with by your employer must be safe to use, regularly inspected, regularly maintained, and replaced at suitable intervals. Your employer has an important duty to ensure you are fully trained in its use, and supervised if appropriate. Regular training is another step your employer should take to ensure you are confident in using the equipment provided.
If you are injured because the equipment you were using is faulty, or your employer has failed to provide you with sufficient training, you can make a claim for compensation. Any equipment should be free of exposed parts that could be potentially dangerous to the user, and emergency stop buttons should be plentiful and accessible in case of an emergency.
If work equipment is required to make your job safer, your employer should provide it. I.e. a hoist for lifting heavy or awkward objects, or an automatic drill for drilling long holes in to hard wood (rather than a hand drill – which takes me back to my school days!).
Provision and Use of Work
If your health and safety is inevitably put at risk through the type of job you do, your employer must provide you with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)to prevent you from coming to harm. For example, if you work with hot liquids or chemicals, you will need coveralls and gloves to prevent anything dangerous from contacting your skin and body parts. A welder should be provided with a mask; a glass blower should be provided with gloves and a mask; a construction site worker should be provided with a hard hat, sturdy boots, and probably gloves as well.
The Personal Protective Equipment itself must be regularly inspected, regularly maintained, and replaced accordingly. If your employer fails to provide you with any, or any adequate PPE, you can make a claim for compensation.
Manual Handling
This can tie in with the work equipment section – to start with, your employer has an important duty to ensure they limit manual handling activities as much as is reasonably possible. If work equipment can replace or reduce manual handling, it should be introduced.
For any manual handling tasks that must be carried out, your employer needs to fully risk assess the task, adequately supervise the task, and ensure all those involved are fully trained in manual handling activities. Failing to comply with any of these important prerequisites leaves you with an entitlement to make a claim for compensation.
So, if your employer fails in any of the important duties they have to protect you and maintain your health and safety in the workplace, you are entitled to make a claim for compensation from the employer’s liability insurance policy they have, which they must legally hold.
If you feel you may have a claim, feel free to contact our expert team at The Injury Lawyers for more information on work accident claims.
